Eternal Rains (IC) [M] - Closed

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt blinked at Cross' bellow, sighed, settled his pointy hat firmly on his head, and stumped after the wolf.

Quietly.


After all, he knew what happened when you volunteered.


... until the lights went out, at which point, he tripped over something, and stumbled directly into the back of Cross.

"Dammit! What's the bloody hell is wrong with the gods-forsaken lights now?"

[SpottedKitty]

Fal'taq's laughter was cut short as he heard footsteps coming up behind him in the darkness. Someone walking. Someone walking quickly. Someone not taking care where they were going — the mole yelped as a foot came down heavily on his toes, and an unseen figure slammed into him, sending him hurtling back to bounce off the wall.

"Argh! Where are you going, you idiot... whoever you are?" Fal'taq snarled as he caught his breath. He raised a hand and snapped his fingers, creating another flickering light dancing above his clawtips.

[Tapewolf]

Jakob could have extinguished the light, or invoked a spell which projected darkness, a sort of anti-candle if you will.  He could even have become invisible, but a better idea presented itself.

"Put that thing out and come to the cockpit," he told the mole.  "There's something I need to show you.  You too," he told the hedgehog.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt turned to follow Cross, muttering imprecations.

"You mean those bloody lights outside you bent everyone's eardrums about not two gods-damned seconds ago? Seen 'em. I suspect even they heard you. Might need some poor bastard to go the fuck outside and be a portable arrow detector, yes? Yes? Gods damned right you bloody do. And you're not going to send out anyone tough, like yourself, either, because that'd be sensible, and safe. No, you'll pick some poor bugger who doesn't stand a bloody snowball's chance in hell of doing anything useful. Some bastard who'll just become bloody geography. Bastards, the lot of ya."

*stomp* *stomp* *stomp* *stomp* *stomp*

[Tapewolf]

Cross raised his eyebrows, though no-one saw it in the gloom.  His fur shivered slightly in the darkness as he hardened the skin beneath it.  The hedgehog was prickly in both form and temperament and it was a natural precaution.

"What's that, Mr. Witt?  You volunteered to go out?  Good man!" he said enthusiastically, and as an extra precaution morphed one of his tentacles into a club.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt stopped dead (so to speak) in his tracks, struck dumb.

For all of two seconds. Then a positive fountain of profanity flew from his lips.

"Oh, for fucking crying out gods damned loud. I bloody knew some liver-bellied rotten-skinned son of a bitch would do that to me. I knew it." He glared at Cross, barely visible in the dim beam of Fal'taq's little light, then turned towards the exit, still grumbling.

Just as he reached it, he paused, turned back, and raised his voice enough for Cross to hear it. "If I get killed, I'm damned well going to come back and haunt you to bloody death. You hear me, you pusillanimous bastard? I'll make your bloody balls rot where they hang, I swear!"

And with that, he was gone out the door, and down the gangway.



Eyes wide open, and very very cautiously.

[Tapewolf]

"Your terms are acceptable," Cross muttered, and the club-tentacle melted away behind his back.

"So, Mr. Faltaq... how long have you been a mole?" he asked idly, as he waited for Witt's death screams.

[Boog]

It was quiet out, save for some sort of fwooshing noise. Peaceful. Cool. Easy to see due to all the obligingly ominous glowing going on. And at the end of the gangplank, easily mistaken for a boulder in the constantly flickering light, was Ty sitting crosslegged with his hands on his knees.
Technically, Ty wasn't a barbarian these days. He ran a deli, a nice and simple affair for all the minor (albeit stunningly close) similarities to his old profession.
This didn't mean he stopped acting like one. After an adrenaline rush like wrestling a werewolf after an airship crash there was an exhaustion very close to the tail end of a berzerker rage. Typically a good time to meditate, reflect on events and find your peace so you can get the hell off the battlefield before reinforcements showed up.
Monks meditate with incense, because they think peace should be PLEASANT and take your mind off things. Barbarians consider this silly. How do you focus in the middle of a sneezing fit? Meditation, if you're the sort to indulge in such obscure luxuries, should be done around a bonfire.
"Ah, hello." The mythos said, not opening his eyes or turning his head away from the flames streaming out of the nose of the ship as helium escaped into the night air. "How goes?"

[Cogidubnus]

 The group exiting the ship with Cog in tow found that they'd been beaten outside - Witt was standing next to a large boulder and staring at the nose of the ship. Firelight shone off his face, although it wasn't entirely clear where the glow was coming from.

* * *

He'd only been standing there a few moments, true, but as for right now, no arrows flitted through the brush - no tide of creatures slunk out of the surf and and threw bolts of death at the ship, nothing rustling in the shadows anywhere - simply the sound of surf, and the roar of the ballast in the ship escaping in a giant, blowtorch-esque conflagration.

Somewhere on the nose, a leak had developed, and during the crash something had caught the escaping ballast on fire. Instead of igniting the entire tank, however, the escaping gas was acting more like a torch than anything. Which wasn't to say it couldn't go up at any moment...

[SpottedKitty]

Fal'taq glanced sideways as he watched Witt stamp noisily (and profanely) out of the hatch. You meant to force me out there, did you not? he thought sourly. While the mole kept the tiny light spell flickering from one hand, the other hand was poised ready to cast a shield spell between himself and the wolf 'Cubi. One sacrificial goat... or hedgehog... might not be enough, after all. Besides, his light hadn't been dim enough to hide the club-ended tentacle the wolf had held behind his back.

The 'Cubi's final comment forced Fal'taq to stifle a bemused snicker. "Perhaps not as long as you have been a soul-sucking horror, Mr. Pettersohn," he replied, "but I do my best. I must commend you on your technique with our friend Witt. I would guess we have both read the same monograph on how to... hehehe... communicate in the workplace."

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt gazed up at the flames, and sighed.

"Oh, that's just brilliant. Gods damned fucking wonderful." He glanced around, shrugged, and stumped back up the gangway, brushing past the crowd standing there, and back towards the cockpit - giving Cross an evil glare on the way past.

Once he reached the cockpit, he ambled over towards Pandora. "Hey, chickiebabe, just out of interest... how fucking dangerous is it to have the damned nose of the bloody ship on fire?"

[e_voyager]

Epyon followed Paige and penny wondering what they would find. he felt and unnerving feeling. kind of like a tingling rising up his back between his wings and the back of his neck. he looked at the wolf in the succubus tentacles and wondered how he was even still alive. even those who believed themselves immortal normally died if there heads were gone but this wolf he was still alive some how.

[Tapewolf]

"Souls are like trees, my good sir," Cross told the mole.  "You lop a few branches off here, a few there, they grow back.  Only a brutal clod would cut down the entire thing."

His expression darkened.  "Did he just say 'on fire'?"

[Stygian]

As if on cue, a hard hand settled on Cross' head, and twisted his head in the direction of the orange glow. It was a little hard to believe that anyone could mistake the flickering light, if he couldn't see the flames directly. Blending into the shadows with her dark, mottled clothing and her own pigmentation, the spider was distinguishable from the surrounding murkiness mostly because of the gleaming, reflective glow in her red eyes and the glistening of the smoother, harder pieces of her carapace-like skin. Sal's face was a mute, composed, hard mask of disapproval once again. Though as things were it looked far less surly and much more justified this time over. That might just have had to do with the arrogant Cubi in front of her though.

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Now that can't be a good thing" Paige said looking up at the fire, as she looked for a place to put the unconscious 'were.

[e_voyager]

Epyon froze his eyes dilating as he looked up at the flaming nose of the ship. "ff fa fare" his trembling lip manager to allow him to say. his lips were still trembling as he managed to  start backing away form the ship. even when he was alive. burning wing feathers stunk and even with his healing skills he could still feel the phantom pain of when numerous times he set himself on fire trying to learn fire magic, well powerful fire magic. his fear was so palatable to any near him that even the non cubi could pick it up.

[Tapewolf]

Jakob stared at the flickering light in incomprehension.  Pandora couldn't have been stupid enough to use a flammable gas as the lifting agent, not when she knew that the Mer would throw lightning at the thing to try and destroy it.  Besides which, there couldn't be much (any?) ballast left in the front hull anyway, or he'd never had needed to make the helium airbeds.

Whatever it was, it would have to be extinguished.  If the ship somehow went up, they would be at the mercy of the Mer.  It might be more merciful to kill everyone else and then himself.

"Anyone good with ice magic?" he asked.

[Stygian]

After an uncomfortably long pause at the Incubus' last words, and obvious hesitance from all around, the spider finally put not one but three palms to her face. Gods, did they have to have a skating tournament and an ice-sculpting contest to see who would do it best?! Even water or air magic would work, as far as she knew, rather immediately. Hell, even using earth magic to conjure up some sand to choke it would be good. Whereas leaving a fire like that for so little as only seconds more was just inviting it to reach a critical point.
   Fal'taq's smirking and annoying sounds were cut off by a sudden and sharp poke to the side that touched right into his ribs. Glaring at the mole, Sal pointed a wickedly clawed, glistening hand against the source of the amber light.

[Sunblink]

...Pandora and Keaton:

The woodpecker jerked her head to the side in a sharp inclination, staring out the glass window and at the nose of the ship. "Fire?" she repeated hesitantly, only for her features to sharpen in recognition as she spotted the flame. Cursing loudly, she dashed past Witt in a demonstration of agility and raced over to the wall. Mounted behind a window of glass was a pair of unusual-looking containers, vaguely reminiscent of some highly intricate capsules. Both devices were crowned with nozzles. Fiddling with a key in her pocket, Pandora unlocked the padlock on the glass box and opened the door, seizing one of the machines.

Pandora shouted over to Axiyne. "Ax!" In a swift motion, she tossed the container over to him. The Gryphon caught the container in both front paws. "Take this an' blow ou' th' fire! I'll be wit' ya!"

Pandora glowered at the remaining people in the cockpit, snatching another container. She looked like she had a horrible headache. "As f'r th' rest o' ya..." Pandora pointed to the exit, "GET TH' FUCK OU'!"

Keaton flinched at the loud noise, but clapped Cross on the shoulder and dashed down the walkway without complaint. She didn't like taking orders, but stubbornly remaining inside of a burning ship powered by flammable gas was not an act of defiance, it was an act of stupidity. "All right, everyone out! Out!"

---

The ship was surrounded by a wide variety of tropical foliage, thickly condensed in a wide ring around the ship. Most of the trees in the vicinity had been toppled over and uprooted by the ship grazing the earth, but the jungle seemed rather placid. None of the wildlife had decided to investigate the strange mechanical monster that had created such wanton destruction, fortunately. Axiyne was hovering around the flames consuming the nose of the ship, his wings keeping his body aloft, aiming the nozzle of the container at the raging fire. White foam, spraying in voluminous tufts, cascaded onto the fire, smothering it. Pandora had joined in, and was extinguishing the flames from on the ground.

Keaton sighed and walked over to an overturned tree, dropping onto the trunk. She patiently waited, drumming her fingers against the bark of the tree. For a moment, she contemplated starting a conversation with one of her teammates, if only because she felt obligated to become acquainted with them, and if only because she needed entertainment. She also wasn't comfortable with the idea of leaving Cogidubnus on the ship, but as long as he was safe and the flames had been successfully doused, she couldn't complain.

Finally, the fire was out. Thick smoke mushroomed in an ugly cloud from the charred nose. Peppered with foam, Axiyne descended, clearly fatigued, and fluttered his wings as he landed. He immediately dropped the fire extinguisher and adjusted his goggles, heaving. "O-Okay... th... the fire's out," he reported, "B-But the ship's... it's... it's obviously taken some damage."

Pandora was cursing liberally in the background. Standing far away from the ship, she beat the foam clinging to her feathers off of her body and stormed over to a safe place where she could light a match. With a cigar smoldering between her fingertips, Pandora miserably leaned against a tree and smoked in silence, pouting in a way that was very unflattering to her pretty features. Keaton decided it was wise to leave her alone, and edged down the length of the tree until she accidentally bumped into Sal. "Oh, sorry," she mumbled, withdrawing her hand. A voice in the back of her head laughed at her clumsiness, and she grimaced in an uncharacteristic gesture of timidity.

Axiyne sighed and walked over to Cross and Fal'taq. He hadn't talked to them all that often, but they seemed the most authoritative, so he decided to relay the information to them. The yellow and black jackal was probably the leader, but she scared him, so he decided to avoid her. "I'm going to go find a spring to clean off," he said quietly, "If you see Pandora, can you tell her? When she's like this she's... uh, not too friendly." With that said, Axiyne dropped onto all four legs and trudged in the direction of running water.

[SpottedKitty]

Fal'taq had just leaned out of the hatchway to look at the ominous flickering glow up at the front of the airship, when something very hard and not very blunt poked him in the ribs. The mole squawked in a rather undignified manner, almost losing his grip on the edge of the hatch frame.

"Ow! What are you doing, woman?" His snarl as he turned in Sal's direction was cut short as Pandora finally noticed the flames and chased everyone out of the airship. The mole trotted down the ramp and found a comfortable-looking fallen tree to sit on, not too far from the others. It was a good vantage point to watch Pandora and the Gryphon extinguishing the fire.

[Tapewolf]

"Will do," Cross nodded vacantly and sat down.  He glanced up at the ship.  It didn't look like it was going to take them anywhere in a hurry.

Most 'Cubi were emotionally unstable and he was no exception.  His mood flitted from rage to fear and back again.  Rage was warm and hot, the thought fo punishing those responsible,  casting their spirits into the ocean depths, their souls trapped in a crystal that wouldn't be found until the next geological age.
And suddenly the warmth was gone, replaced by icy fear of what the Mer would do when they found them.  And without the airship, what could they do?  Better to cut and run.

Why was he still here?  He didn't know.  How easy it would be to return, to warn Daryil and the others that these fools had sabotaged their own mission.  There was an entire multiverse out there to explore and the Mer would never catch them, no matter how resourceful they might be in this one small world.

No.  Not yet...

Cross walked up to Pandora and began to siphon away at her angst.

"Pandora," he said.  "I know this flight didn't end exactly the way I had hoped it would, but look on the bright side.  It happened.  You built an airship from the ground up, with no help, no computer simulations and no guidance... and it worked.  No-one has ever done that before in this world, not as far as I know, at least.  That's something to be proud of."

He glanced back at the ship.  "It's seen better days, but we'll get it going again.  I promise."

[Sunblink]

...Pandora:

Cross's emotional harvest seemed to yield some results, as Pandora's smoldering rage mercurially transitioned to a less dangerous spectrum in a short period of time. She didn't say anything, just chewed on the end of her cigar while quietly ruminating over his words. After a moment, she sighed in resignation and slapped her hand to her forehead. "Fuck," she mumbled, "Y'r right. Y'know, it's jus'... I've wanted t' do somethin' like this f'r my whole life, like my grandfather did, an' any sorta potholes are jus'..."

At this point, Cross was probably feeling like a priest sitting in a confessional booth listening to a convict tell his life story, but Pandora continued regardless, waving her hands around. "Frustrating shi'. Y'r right, we're probably gonna get i' fixed soon enough. I 'ave enough emergency materials in storage, it'll just take a while. I c'n get i' fixed sooner than normal, tho'."

Pandora removed the cigar from her mouth. She looked at it despondently and sighed. Cross could feel that her slightly alleviated angst had petered away into something a bit peculiar. "I wish Zia was 'ere. I need angry sex." Pandora looked at Cross like a hopeful puppy. "Are y' interested?"

[Tapewolf]

Cross looked at her quizzically.  "Aww, why not.  Did you have any particular place in mind?"

[Sunblink]

...Pandora:

Pandora pointed to a nearby palm tree in a distant congregation of foliage. "Against that tree."

[Tapewolf]

Cross opened his mouth to object.  What if the Mer attacked them?  What if their less trustworthy comrades tried to kill him?  I can't imagine a better way to go.

"Whatever," he said, and broke into a genuinely happy smile.  Maybe this would be a fun trip after all.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt stumbled out of the ship, dragged after everyone else after the rabid were-bird - the opposite way to that that he had come in. After his feet hit the earth outside, he staggered to a halt, and sorted himself out; straightened his jacket, settled his helmet on his head, checked his pockets, and then looked around. Noting that only half the team appeared to be collected on this side of the ship, he sauntered around the end of the ship, noting in passing the (easily audible) conversation between Pandora and Cross.

As he sauntered round the end, he spotted the others - the succubus, holding the emaciated wolf, the fisher, the mole, and the big boulder that was the saurian - standing around the exit. He pursed his lips, considered whistling at them to gain their attention, but decided there had been enough noise lately, and merely waved, and then sauntered jauntily towards them. When he'd got close enough to speak without shouting, he commented - in a passable imitation of Pandora's style - "All t'other bast'rds're on t'other side. Y'might wanna move round. Oh, and she's about to get her rocks off with that wolfie cubi. T'other wolf, 'at is. Iffn yer hurry up, we c'n avva show." He leered. then fished around in a pocket, and pulled out a bottle, waving it at Paige. "Ah, here 'tis. Roight, a drink ev'ry time he ses she's pretty, 'nother when she screams, two iffn she's fakin'... any other rules you care to play with?"

He smirked, and started sauntering back around the ship, then turned back. "Oh, yeah. If he uses tentacles, we need another bottle."

[e_voyager]

Maybe it's and after effect of the fire fear or maybe he just wants to try and forget the past few hours but Epyon whom Witt was walking by ( he was on withs other side) without noticing grabs the bottle that Witt is swirling and  making sure to pop the top up ends it taking three large swallows. " i can deal with that sire" he said  panting his  body still shaking form his recent ordeals., he was not even consciously doing it as he waited for the alcohol to hit his undead nervous system. he offers the bottle back to Witt wishing he could remember if he could get drunk not that he'd been much of a drinker while alive.

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Now now Witt, that isn't very nice" Paige purred at the hedgehog. "I do believe that something personal, I think we should be setting up some sort of shelter over here." She did however take a swallow out of the bottle he was holding before giving it back. "Thank you."

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Witt blinked.

"If it was personal, they shouldn't be doin' it in front of everyone, now, should they? B'sides, he looks like he could use the advice." He turned back to the view, muttered "Wish I had some popcorn." then, threw a smirking glance back over his shoulder. "If we had a meal, we could call it 'dinner an a show.'" He then returned his gaze to the view in front, shouting encouragement to Cross. "You can do it, big boy! You know she wants you! Use yer tentacles, she'll like that!"

He took a draught of the bottle, then glanced curiously down at it, judging how much was left. "Bloody hell. I didn't think he'd got that far."

[Tapewolf]

Cross morphed one of his tentacles into a hand and made a very rude gesture at Witt.